Changes
by coolasfuck
Summary: When Remus comes back from school after a long holiday, something is different, and Sirius is determined to find out what. As they grow up a little, something else changes too. Bit of swearing and bit of sex but nothing explicit.


Sirius stumbled into the Common Room made hazy by Firewhisky. Something seemed to be wrong

with the floor and so he veered desperately towards the nearest armchair in the slight hope it

would calm the suddenly stormy seas. The fact that it was occupied did not faze him from his

quest.

"Oof." said a familiar voice as a familiar person was heavily sat on.

It couldn't be Remus at this time of morning, could it? Not unless he was studying for some stupid test.

"I'm shorry!" slurred someone's voice. Certainly not his. He couldn't be that drunk, could he?

"Get of my books, you bastard. You smell like the Hag's Head on a Friday night and weigh a ton.

All in one, thought Sirius happily. It was Remus, he was studying, and Sirius really was that drunk.

He gave himself a mental tick. Then the tone registered in some part of his brain

that listened to Remus despite the distinct lack of sobriety and realised that the other boy was

actually pissed off and that Sirius better move.

Sirius managed a uncoordinated slump sideways and ended up staring into his favourite werewolf's

eyes from the other side of the suddenly tiny armchair. Looking up into his pale face, he

remembered another reason why Remus shouldn't be in the Common Room at this time of night.

He was meant to be home, convalescing after the last full moon that lay too close to the start of

term for him to be ready on time. Sirius had moaned when he heard of the news ("Where's my

Moony? We can look after him better than his mum can!") but seeing the stiff, painful hunch of his

shoulders and the bags under his eyes, he thought he probably should have stayed in bed.

"You prob'ly shud have shtayed at home." said Stupid, Drunk Sirius. Moony hated to be reminded of

any weakness.

"Shut up." There was a tightness to his mouth that meant something was bothering him. "I had to

come back for the exams, you know that."

Typical Moony, he thought fondly. Just like him to ignore the best excuse anyone's probably ever

had for missing exams (sorry Sir, I was busy tearing myself apart) and to come back despite feeling

like shit just to undertake something that, for the rest of the school, and for most likely everyone

who wasn't Moony, was a chore and a terror.

There was something different about him though. He could sense it if he focused, through the

increasingly tempting urge to just go to sleep on his friend's bony shoulder (how did he get over to

that side of the armchair?) , but right now he wasmore distracted by the way that Remus always

seemed to stay the same. Same habits, same smell– he closed his eyes and inhaled with pleasure –

new wool and wood smoke and parchment.

"You're very drunk. You should probably go to bed. If you can't manage it then I will leave you here

with your trousers undone for all of Gryffindor to see."

Then he heard a put-upon sigh, and fell asleep in the knowledge that he was being looked after.

When he woke up the next morning, Sirius, never a morning person, felt his stomach rumble and

without opening his eyes slid down his bunk to visit the kitchens. The Great Hall did have food at

this hour, but, as he had discovered previously, it was all boring stuff like muesli and yoghurt. The

good stuff didn't come in until at least half past seven.

His eyes still mainly closed, he recognised the painting of the fruit-bowl more by instinct than

anything else and reached up. Smelling something baking when the door swung open, he smiled.

Just in time for breakfast.

When the other person entered the kitchens softly and sneakily, he was too focused on a cup of

coffee and a slice of last night's treacle tart to notice them. He was therefore very surprised, to

say the least, when a finger lightly tapped him on the shoulder and a voice whispered in his ear.

"Boo," it said, as Sirius dropped his coffee over his pyjamas.

He whipped round to meet a smirk and a scar, and was instantly struck by the fact that this was

not the same werewolf he had said goodbye to only a fortnight ago.

For one thing he was tall. Very tall. Remus was always short and slight and now he was gigantic

and skinny, easily beating Sirius' own not inconsiderable height. He wondered how a human being

managed to grow that fast and dismissed it when he came to the scar across the bridge of his

nose. Ah. Not a human, then.

The scar was silvery and different and obvious, and it gave him a roguish, otherworldly look, along

with his new adult face (sad eyes, skinnier, nose fits the rest of his body) and cheekbones that had

sharpened his face and turned him from cute to striking. Something had changed him.

He looked sad, despite the smirk, and the memory of something different rushed back through the

fog of last night. Here was someone who needed to talk. Not here though. He could read the other

boy well enough to know this needed to be approached with caution.

"D'ya want some grub? God knows I've got plenty to share." is what came out.

Why did talking to him have to be so carefully moderated? Yet somehow it didn't make everything

tense all of the time. Instead it was more of a challenge, to Make Moony Feel Less Shit, and the

rewards were shy smiles and blushes and the sense that something was being unwound.

"Yes please," was the thoughtful reply, and when Sirius saw how gratefully he sank into the kindly offered chair and started on a slice of toast he also noticed the bandages visible through the rolled

up sleeves of his pyjamas, and was again struck by the paleness of his face. Shit. He really should

not have come back to school, or for that matter, carefully put his drunk idiot friend to bed and

cleaned up the inevitable vomit or dressed him in new pjs.

When he was met with a slightly annoyed but mainly amused look from his friend, he realised he had

said the last sentence out loud.

"I'm not that fragile, you know. And the bandages are mainly for show anyway. My mum let me

come back early on condition that I do whatever Madame Pomfrey tells me to do and apparently

that includes wearing bandages."

"How did you even get me into bed in the first place? I mean, I know you've suddenly got fucking

tall but no offence Moony dear, you still probably weigh less than the toast you're eating."

The sentence trailed off when he saw Remus shifting in his seat. Definitely something.

He cleared his throat. "Um, I , I have to go, to get the work, catching up, um, see you."

And he was gone. The remaining boy shook his head in deep thought.

"It's worse than I thought," he said meaningfully to a passing house-elf.


End file.
